We carry a complete range of fall protection solutions
to keep your employees safe.
Explore our products based upon type: Fall Prevention,
Fall Arrest, & Fall Restraint.
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Its nice to see that the BBC take their Fall protection seriously, as seen in the hit show Luther a range of Guardrailing and a Weightanka in place to help erect it safely Read More
Due to planned cuts to the Governments health and safety watchdog, it is predicted that there will be a significant increase by private sector companies employing in-house health and safety technicians Read More
Assuring Work Related Accidental Falls remain at Nil Always
The most hazardous place to work is from a high place that is several meters above the ground. The peril is very real given the different reactions of people who work there when faced with these elevated working situations. Furthermore, the variations in personal vision can also affect the stability of any worker carrying out their job from certain heights. It may be impossible to completely control human nature but it is very possible to control the frequency and severity of the misfortunes that result from falls. Organizations that are keen on having a record of zero tolerance for falls, can achieve it consistently each and every year by employing a few simple strategies.
Frequent inspection of all safety equipment – over time protection and safety gear gets old and worn out from constant use. This is particularly so for holds, harnesses and other equipment that are used hold the workers’ weight in elevated working conditions. Schedules should be set for regular inspection of the holding devices before and after use. Worker feedback should also be sought in case of any difficulties arising with the proper use and storage of these special equipments.
Risk assessment audits – the health and safety committees of companies where workers are required to work from heights must be extra vigilant. They must conduct planned and random audits of their work premises so that they can identify potential danger zones and correct them in good time. They must also follow up all actions from previous audits to ensure their successful completion.
Accident reporting – although accidents should be avoided at all costs, a mechanism should be put in place to immediately report any accidents as soon as they occur. Statistics should be kept for all major and minor accidents that have happened during the past. Investigation reports must be filed and referred to as often as required. These statistics form a good basis for the company to be able to tell whether they are reducing their accidents or not and also the reasons behind each accident.
Corrective and preventive actions – after any audit is conducted at the work place, auditors normally designate certain corrective and preventive actions to take so as to avoid future occurrences of hazardous incidences. These actions should never be ignored because lack of timely action can create the conditions for an avoidable accident that can prove fatal. The negative consequences of such an accident are felt by the victims’ family and also the company well into the long run.
There are many other actions that serious companies can take so as to keep their accident history at zero always. This forms a good basis for any company wanting to start taking their worker safety very seriously.
Sam is a health and height safety manager working within the construction industry. He goes the extra mile over and above legislative requirements to ensure that the workers who work in high places feel comfortable, safe and happy as they carry out their daily tasks
Kee Anchor spotted in Hit BBC psychological crime drama
It's nice to see that even in big budget shows such as Luther that fall protection is taken into consideration, here are some overhead stills taken from the show at the climatic finish to one of the episodes which clearly shows a Weightanka in place, presumably to install the guardrailing that the riot police are leaning against.
I am sure im not the only one who is eagerly awaiting the next series, at the very least to admire the BBC's attention to detail in Fall protection and health and safety!
This post contributed by:
Paul Magee
Simplified Safety / General Manager
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Due to planned cuts to the Governments health and safety watchdog, it is predicted that there will be a significant increase by private sector companies employing in-house health and safety technicians. Similarly there are likely to be more national positions for health and safety related jobs as companies further outsource these responsibilities to skilled contractors.
Although there are industry wide concerns, particularly regarding the state of construction, due to the foreseen reduction in work place inspections by the Health and Safety Executive. It has been claimed this will serve to boost numbers of available health and safety jobs.
There is a lot of value to having businesses that encourage and actively follow safe working practises, both in the economic sense and the more humane sense. Serious accidents within the work place or bereavements resulting from such avoidable accidents are responsible for a considerable number of lost hours of productivity according to leading researchers.
The Bureau of Labour Statistics has predicted a 14% increase in the demand for health and safety technicians, totalling a figure over 12,000 within the United Kingdom, set to happen by 2018.
Authoritative sources have said that bodies within the industry will be asked to make sure that their members self regulate, whilst HSE inspectors would concentrate on particularly high risk sites and scenarios.
This all comes as HSE is set to see a 35% cut in their budget and that employers will no longer be facing compulsory health and safety inspections.
Many unions are pointing out that the work place is becoming ever increasingly dangerous due to these actions. The construction industry has seen a notable 15% increase in fatalities during the past year, which comes as UCATT announced 21 separate memorial services due to work place deaths in the month of April alone. In response, acting general secretary George Guy of UCATT is quoted as saying The Conservative-led governments financial attacks on the HSE will make workplaces more dangerous and will lead to increased deaths and injuries of workers in future.
This article was written by freelance journalist Gemma Simms on behalf of Acre Resources. Acre Resources are an ethical and socially responsible health and safety recruitment company based in the UK. They provide a range of national and international health and safety jobs.
Our new Kwik Kit range allows for a quick and easy erection of a safety barrier to suit most requirements, they are available in either Yellow powder coated or Alumuinium.
Each kit comes with everything you need to construct it and you can use any type of fixing, be it topfixed, sidefixed or coredrilled.
So if you need a qiuck barrier solution for machinery, work areas or a potential fall hazard, this may be the solution you are looking for.
Why does it always have to be a disaster to remind us of why certain safety measures are important. Perhaps your company doesnt deal with an entire reservoir of chemical waste, but many companies need to control some sort of flammable or caustic substance. Here are a few questions to ask yourself about your companies chemical procedures.
Do you have all the operating instructions and information for the hazardous material you are storing?
Are you prepared for a chemical spill? How would you contain it? Do you have the proper materials on hand to contain the spill? What would be the action plan?
Even small spillages can be hazardous and are easily overlooked, have you taken reasonable care by providing a reservoir to contain these in the form of a spill pallet or secondary contaiment sump?
Are any potential hazards adequately marked with appropriate signage?
Here are the guidelines from the HSE on proper Health and Safety in the manufacturing, storage, supply, carriage and use of chemicals in the workplace. If you have further questions, please contact our sales engineers.
A head teacher who took students who had been drinking on to a school roof before one fell has been found guilty of failing to ensure their safety.
John Summerfield had told the pupils to avoid the skylight
Mr Murray, then aged 18, placed his foot on the skylight, tumbled through and landed in the corridor 2.5m (8ft) below.
The court heard Summerfield had given the teenagers a verbal warning not to walk near the skylight but had wanted to show them some of the renovations to the school building. He was one of the only keyholders for a locked door which was opened so the students could access the roof. The prosecution argued that, once the locked door was opened, the principal no longer demonstrated "reasonable care".
Ensure you have taken all neccessary precautions, protect your skylights where you can, Kee Dome is a product that is specifically designed to protect skylights.
Simplified have launched a new product into our Fall Protection range, Kee Line
This system was designed to go hand in hand with the Kee Walk product
KeeLine® is a wire based personal protection system for roof installation or horizontal / overhead applications on structures. The system comprises an 8mm grade 316 stainless steel wire system with electro-polished brackets, detachable travellers and powder coated anchors that provide flexible, continuous protection for up to 3 users working at height. The system is ideal for use by working teams carrying out essential roof top maintenance tasks.
For more information on Kee Line go to our Kee Line pages
Simplified have launched a new product into our Fall Protection range, Kee Walk
Kee Walk is a permanent roof top walkway solution.
Kee® Walk provides a safe, anti-slip, level walking surface for anyone who needs to access a roof in the course of their work. It provides a clear demarcation route which protects the roof surface from unnecessary damage and uniformly distributes the pedestrian load across its surface.
For more information on Kee Walk go to our Kee Walk pages
This post contributed by:
Paul Magee
Simplified Safety / General Manager
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We are working on a rating systems where we talk and review the product that we are selling, this enables us to tell you from a personal perspective what works and what doesn't.
First in the firing line is our range of gloves, watch this space for the results!
This post contributed by:
Paul Magee
Simplified Safety / General Manager
(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Introducing Jeff Rowley, the Kee Safety product specialist and trainer
Here is Jeff demonstrating what Jeff does best!
Within the last few months I was asked by one of our approved installers to provide support on the placement and specification of some Ringanka EN795 Class A1 eyebolts as window cleaning anchor points in a high profile building project in the West Midlands.
On the lower floors my advice was to move the eyebolts above the windows as there was insufficient height to allow a fall to be arrested otherwise (restraint was not possible due to the windows design). Further up the buildings stairwell quite a number of eyebolts where able to be removed from the project as the windows were sealed units and so did not require window cleaning anchorage points.
The revised quote went in to the client (An Architect) and despite the advice provided the Architect asked for all windows the have the eyebolts placed underneath them for reasons of aesthetics, including the windows which had no requirement for the eyebolts.
This leaves our installer with a difficult commercial decision to make. Do they distance themselves from the project and lose what would be a valuable order (and allow a competitor to get the business anyway)? Fight their corner and not deal with the client again in the future? Proceed with the clients instructions and issue a disclaimer to avoid future prosecution? Or should they go ahead with the clients instructions and then report the site to the HSE on completion?
What decision would you make in their situation?
Despite specialist safety companies giving advice, however good, if the client wont or doesnt understand the consequences of ignoring it, then it doesnt matter how much money is spent on safety, serious accidents and deaths will keep on occurring.
Nearly one in four of the construction sites visited by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) during March failed safety checks.
Inspectors from HSE carried out checks at 2014 construction sites across Great Britain as part of an intensive inspection campaign aimed at reducing death and injury in one of Britain's most dangerous industries.
During unannounced visits, inspectors focused on refurbishment and roofing work to ensure that any work at height was being done safely and that the sites were in good order. 2414 contractors were inspected during the campaign.
A total of 691 enforcement notices were issued at 470 sites, with inspectors giving orders for work to be stopped immediately in 359 instances for either unsafe work being carried out at height or where sites lacked 'good order'.
The majority of all notices issued related to unsafe work being carried out at height.
Philip White, HSE's Chief Inspector for Construction, said:
"While it is encouraging that many small construction firms have got their act together and are giving health and safety the priority it needs, the fact that our inspectors needed to take enforcement action on almost a quarter of sites, and on a similar proportion of contractors, is a matter of serious concern.
"There are still a small number of employers or contractors who continue to put their own and other people's health and safety at risk. This is unacceptable. I want to make it clear to these operators that we will not hesitate to take action where standards of health and safety are endangering workers lives and livelihoods."
During 2008/09 there were 53 deaths in construction and 11 264 injuries. Last year, inspectors visited 1759 sites, 2145 contractors and issued 491 enforcement notices during a similar month-long initiative.
